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Sep 17, 2012

The Alchemy of Puss in Boots

I only just got around to seeing Puss in Boots with the family. It's a cute little film that could fairly be described as Shrek meets Zorro meets Desperado. And I have little doubt the boardroom discussion went about like that.

I was not, however, prepared for all the esoteric subtext in the movie. I do remember William Henry pointing out the stargate imagery in the Friskies commercial tie-in. Not that there's anything terribly new about fantastical imagery in children's stories -- including portals into magical lands. But it is kind of interesting that it's through a circular Stargate like opening. Having now seen the movie, I think it's at least arguable that the commercial is a thematic extension of the movie.

It had never occurred to me before that Jack and the Beanstalk is a kundalini metaphor. Now it all seems kind of obvious -- a magical vine that connects earth to heaven and leads to a winged creature that manufactures gold. No duh, huh?

But Puss in Boots ups the ante on that metaphor. Not only is the gold they discover in the shape of an egg, which connects it to core creation mythos. Puss's partner in crime is an egg, specifically Humpty Dumpty.

Humpty's lifelong ambition is to find and plant the magic beans of legend. So an egg is seeking golden eggs. And ultimately the base, mortal, and terribly fragile Humpty is transformed into the gold he is seeking.

And it really gets interesting when they plant the three beans and a tornado (vortex) rapidly forms overhead and connects to the freshly planted soil. Think of it as Shaktipat for beans.

Well, now, I guess we know how Jack's magic beanstalk was completed in a single night. I always found that part deeply mysterious -- kind of like Melusine's tower.

The rapidly surging beanstalk hoists the three conspirators toward the clouds. It brutally overtakes them, dragging them almost against their will, and knocking Puss's hat off his head. That relentless, overwhelming, uncontrollable force should be familiar to anyone who has experienced a kundalini awakening.

The beanstalk unfurls into a giant spiral, like a classic spiral staircase... or DNA... or the serpents on the Staffs of Asclepius or Hermes. Mostly, it put me in mind of William Blake's stunning depiction of Jacob's Ladder.

"Do you not know, Asclepius, that Egypt is an image of heaven, or, to speak more exactly, in Egypt all the operations of the powers which rule and work in heaven have been transferred to earth below? Nay, it should rather be said that the whole Kosmos dwells in this our land as in its sanctuary." - from the Hermetica